I forgot to mention that my birthday was a little while ago. Not a big deal really, birthdays were never a big celebration in my family so I don't take my birthday that seriously (for us Christmas was the big family holiday). As we got older we would e-mail or otherwise send birthday wishes to one another, and if we were around take them out to dinner. Mom was the exception, her birthday was Christmas Day, and we would always make sure that she got separate birthday presents as well as Christmas presents, as well as a nice cake with candles at dinner. (As an aside, if you know someone who's birthday lies very close to Christmas, and you plan to get them a gift, I recommend not giving them a "combination" birthday/Christmas present.) Most times I don't even mention to people when my birthday is.
This year a few friends knew that it was my birthday so we decided to go out for dinner to Souq Waqif later in the week, a couple of days after my birthday. I never turn down a nice dinner! So I arrived at my friends' house earlier that afternoon to watch a movie when they surprised me -- their whole family came out of the kitchen with a chocolate cake, complete with candles, and a present! I was not expecting that at all and was completely taken aback, especially since my birthday had been a couple of days ago.
Wasn't that sweet of them? When I think about it I can't really remember the last time I had a birthday cake, certainly not in the last five or six years, and despite my earlier spiel about birthdays not being a big deal I felt grateful that they had taken the time to get a cake for me. I think there is an old saying along the lines of unexpected surprises being the most pleasant, and this was no exception.
***********************
I know I just mentioned eating cake and going out for dinner but despite that I am actually on a diet. Really, honest! It turns out a few of the other guys in the office also wanted to lose some weight so we all agreed to sign up to the gym on the first floor of our office tower and go there every lunch hour. We started this week and so far so good as I went three lunch hours (missed one because I was supposed to be going to Dubai so I didn't bring my gym bag, see previous blog entry) and I plan to go all five lunch hours next week. Going to the gym to exercise is easier when there are other people expecting you to do it. Hopefully we can keep this up for at least a few months.
***********************
In regards to my last post about countries requiring exit permits a friend of mine mentioned that he had looked into it and as far as he knows only Saudi Arabia and Qatar have exit permit requirements for foreign workers living there. I still bet that North Korea has some sort of exit permit system in place, it is just that they don't really have many foreign workers living there and many of those who are there were kidnapped by them back in the 70s, so I'm willing to bet they would need some kind of government permission to leave the country. Anyway, isn't it weird that there are probably only a handful of countries that still have this requirement?
******************
Nothing much else happening today, just another lazy Friday in Doha. I think the Rugby Club next door is having a barbecue this afternoon so I might go just to have one burger. Just one. After that I'll just hang around until the stores are open in the evening as I need some new dress shirts, as well as an extra towel and gym shorts for the above-mentioned workouts. Later.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Exit permits
One thing about Qatar that most Westerners don't expect is the requirement for all foreigners who live in the country (at least, those who are not Arabs from the Gulf) to have an exit permit in order to leave the country. We are used to needing a visa to enter a country, but certainly not one to have to exit a country. Qatar is not unique in this regard, It is common in most of the region and I'm sure a few countries in the developing world have similar requirements. I'm guessing it is to prevent people from running off without paying their debts. It is also a good way to ensure that the only foreigners living here are those who have jobs or married to someone who has a job -- the exit permit is provided by your sponsor or employer. So if you or someone in your family doesn't have a job, no exit permit, and no leaving the country. This of course can cause problems for those who for some reason do not have an exit permit as they may then become stuck in the country with no way to leave. This can happen with workers who are in the country illegally. Recently, the United Arab Emirates granted a general amnesty for those people who needed to get a permit to leave the country without worrying about being arrested for being in the country illegally. Thousands turned up. I'm not sure if the UAE government was expecting the massive scale of illegal workers in the country.
So, why am I explaining exit permits to you? Because this week I was scheduled to go on a business trip to Dubai, went to the airport, went to immigration... and then was told that my exit permit had expired 5 days ago and that I was not allowed to leave the country! The HR department at work missed that my exit permit expired and forgot to renew it. (They did remember, however, to inform at least six of my colleagues that theirs is expiring and in need of renewal). So that was that -- I was not getting on that plane! Unfortunately we were not able to renew the exit permit until the following day by which time the forum that I was supposed to be attending was over. Needless to say that kind of sucked. I was not in a good mood that morning, but I eventually got over it. Mistakes happen. At least it didn't happen on a weekend when I was going on vacation, I would have been really screwed then. But it was then that I realised that the concept of exit permits is very annoying.
So, why am I explaining exit permits to you? Because this week I was scheduled to go on a business trip to Dubai, went to the airport, went to immigration... and then was told that my exit permit had expired 5 days ago and that I was not allowed to leave the country! The HR department at work missed that my exit permit expired and forgot to renew it. (They did remember, however, to inform at least six of my colleagues that theirs is expiring and in need of renewal). So that was that -- I was not getting on that plane! Unfortunately we were not able to renew the exit permit until the following day by which time the forum that I was supposed to be attending was over. Needless to say that kind of sucked. I was not in a good mood that morning, but I eventually got over it. Mistakes happen. At least it didn't happen on a weekend when I was going on vacation, I would have been really screwed then. But it was then that I realised that the concept of exit permits is very annoying.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Massages
Last weekend I decided to do something different -- get a massage. A friend of mine informed me that a new barber/massage place and opened up in a strip mall near his home and it seemed that the prices were pretty reasonable so I decided to give it a try.
Now I have never had a massage in Qatar before. Generally the only massage places are in the big five-star hotels, and there they charge you an arm and a leg for a massage, around $100 or so. This place in the strip mall charges around $30 per hour which is more in line with my kind of spending budget. Of course there's one thing about it that you may not be expecting -- it is a male-only massage parlour.
Now in North America a male only massage parlour would certainly raise some eyebrows, but around here it is not that unexpected. Remember, this is a country with some stricter rules about gender segregation. I'm pretty sure that there is almost no such thing as a unisex salon here, there are salons only for women (in which case no men are allowed at all) or there are barbers for men. From what I've heard about the hotel spas they are similar, most if not all times a man goes to the spa he will get a masseur while ladies will get a masseuse and I know one example of a Thai massage place where they clearly state that you will only be massaged by someone of the same gender. So a male only massage parlour would actually be more than the norm here rather than the exception.
(That said, a couple of the Filipino guys in the massage parlour seemed pretty swishy to me, but the massage was okay and nothing untoward happened)
Otherwise, what else is new? Well, I just got over a cold, and the heat has built up to a point where it is getting uncomfortable to walk outside, but otherwise everything is fine. A friend of mine hosted a big barbecue on Friday night, and another buddy is arriving tomorrow and staying for a few days which should keep me socially active for a while.
Now I have never had a massage in Qatar before. Generally the only massage places are in the big five-star hotels, and there they charge you an arm and a leg for a massage, around $100 or so. This place in the strip mall charges around $30 per hour which is more in line with my kind of spending budget. Of course there's one thing about it that you may not be expecting -- it is a male-only massage parlour.
Now in North America a male only massage parlour would certainly raise some eyebrows, but around here it is not that unexpected. Remember, this is a country with some stricter rules about gender segregation. I'm pretty sure that there is almost no such thing as a unisex salon here, there are salons only for women (in which case no men are allowed at all) or there are barbers for men. From what I've heard about the hotel spas they are similar, most if not all times a man goes to the spa he will get a masseur while ladies will get a masseuse and I know one example of a Thai massage place where they clearly state that you will only be massaged by someone of the same gender. So a male only massage parlour would actually be more than the norm here rather than the exception.
(That said, a couple of the Filipino guys in the massage parlour seemed pretty swishy to me, but the massage was okay and nothing untoward happened)
Otherwise, what else is new? Well, I just got over a cold, and the heat has built up to a point where it is getting uncomfortable to walk outside, but otherwise everything is fine. A friend of mine hosted a big barbecue on Friday night, and another buddy is arriving tomorrow and staying for a few days which should keep me socially active for a while.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
I'm a millionaire!
On the weekend I met up with my friends Carrie and Khamal. Khamal just got back from Zimbabwe where he had been working on assignment for Al Jazeera. Now in Zimbabwe inflation is going crazy, at one estimate now at 165,000% a year, so prices are doubling on almost a daily basis. This makes it difficult for the government to keep up in terms of the value of currency, they keep reprinting currency with more and more zeros on it to keep up a price inflation. So as a gift Khamal gave me a $10 million Zimbabwe note.
I'm a millionaire!
So what is the note actually worth? Well, the official Zimbabwe government exchange rate is something like $300,000 to one US dollar , which is a rip off considering a can of Coke was $50 million (and that was a couple weeks ago, it's probably something like $125 million now). Kamal is saying that on the black market however the rate is much higher -- 100 US dollars will get you something like 5 1/2 billion dollars (yes, feel free to say it like Dr. Evil). So in reality my $10 million note is probably worth something like $.30, and perhaps $.15 by the end of the day.
Living in a country with such high inflation rate must be absolutely insane. Kamal tells me that in Zimbabwe if you get local currency you spend it immediately since its value is decreasing daily, but if you get foreign currency you hang onto it for as long as possible.
Despite the economic chaos people living in the rural regions are generally supportive of the government. Many of them received parcels of land from the government during the land seizures of a few years ago, for which they are quite grateful. And the rampant inflation does not affect subsistence farmers much since they do not deal with a lot of currency. They grow their food, and they eat it. The odd time that they earn some money they can to spend it immediately on what they need.
As for my $10 million I might get it framed as a souvenir.
As a side note, last Friday at "classic movies night" we watched the Mel Brooks comedy The Producers. Great film. We then briefly watched the more recent version with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. While the modern version is pretty good I will have to say that Matthew Broderick does not hold a candle to Gene Wilder. Try to get hold of both movies and compare for yourself.
I'm a millionaire!
So what is the note actually worth? Well, the official Zimbabwe government exchange rate is something like $300,000 to one US dollar , which is a rip off considering a can of Coke was $50 million (and that was a couple weeks ago, it's probably something like $125 million now). Kamal is saying that on the black market however the rate is much higher -- 100 US dollars will get you something like 5 1/2 billion dollars (yes, feel free to say it like Dr. Evil). So in reality my $10 million note is probably worth something like $.30, and perhaps $.15 by the end of the day.
Living in a country with such high inflation rate must be absolutely insane. Kamal tells me that in Zimbabwe if you get local currency you spend it immediately since its value is decreasing daily, but if you get foreign currency you hang onto it for as long as possible.
Despite the economic chaos people living in the rural regions are generally supportive of the government. Many of them received parcels of land from the government during the land seizures of a few years ago, for which they are quite grateful. And the rampant inflation does not affect subsistence farmers much since they do not deal with a lot of currency. They grow their food, and they eat it. The odd time that they earn some money they can to spend it immediately on what they need.
As for my $10 million I might get it framed as a souvenir.
As a side note, last Friday at "classic movies night" we watched the Mel Brooks comedy The Producers. Great film. We then briefly watched the more recent version with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. While the modern version is pretty good I will have to say that Matthew Broderick does not hold a candle to Gene Wilder. Try to get hold of both movies and compare for yourself.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Alcohol, dieting, and more...
Well, the heat is finally upon us. I have the AC on that pretty much 24 hours a day now and it isn't even the end of April. So, what's new?
It looks like in the last month or so the law changed regarding local Muslims and drinking alcohol. Before, any Arab in a thobe (that's the long white robes arabs wear) were not allowed to be served alcohol in hotels. Now, hotels are allowed to serve the so when you go to the bar you see a number of men in thobes having beer and whiskeys. While unusual for Qatar this is not unique to the Gulf region, Arabs can drink in Bahrain, Dubai and Oman. As for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, alcohol is completely banned so I doubt there will be any change to the laws soon.
A friend of mine in my carpool group just got himself a new vehicle so today we drove in to work in a Nissan Armada. That had to be the biggest vehicle I've ever been in short of a bus or airplane. Absolutely huge! I guess that's the advantage of having gas at $.19 a liter, everyone can afford to drive these massive vehicles. I must admit it was a very luxurious ride especially since I'm driving a Honda city.
No trips planned for the near future though I might be heading to Dubai or Oman in the near future on business. Will keep you posted.
In other news, I have discovered a new way to ensure that my social calendar is filled up with plenty of lunches and dinners and invites to barbecues -- announcing you're on a diet! Seriously, I announced a few days ago that I was going on a diet to try to lose weight and in the last week I've gone out to four different lunches, three dinners, a barbecue, and will be going out to dinner on Saturday. Oh, and today we have a big staff lunch. Try this trick at home.
Later.
It looks like in the last month or so the law changed regarding local Muslims and drinking alcohol. Before, any Arab in a thobe (that's the long white robes arabs wear) were not allowed to be served alcohol in hotels. Now, hotels are allowed to serve the so when you go to the bar you see a number of men in thobes having beer and whiskeys. While unusual for Qatar this is not unique to the Gulf region, Arabs can drink in Bahrain, Dubai and Oman. As for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, alcohol is completely banned so I doubt there will be any change to the laws soon.
A friend of mine in my carpool group just got himself a new vehicle so today we drove in to work in a Nissan Armada. That had to be the biggest vehicle I've ever been in short of a bus or airplane. Absolutely huge! I guess that's the advantage of having gas at $.19 a liter, everyone can afford to drive these massive vehicles. I must admit it was a very luxurious ride especially since I'm driving a Honda city.
No trips planned for the near future though I might be heading to Dubai or Oman in the near future on business. Will keep you posted.
In other news, I have discovered a new way to ensure that my social calendar is filled up with plenty of lunches and dinners and invites to barbecues -- announcing you're on a diet! Seriously, I announced a few days ago that I was going on a diet to try to lose weight and in the last week I've gone out to four different lunches, three dinners, a barbecue, and will be going out to dinner on Saturday. Oh, and today we have a big staff lunch. Try this trick at home.
Later.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Speech software!
Yesterday I received speech recognition software. I've been trying it out and so far it's been working really good. As an example, this entire posting was written using it and not making any edits. I was skeptical at first that this is a program would work well but I do because of my repetitive strain injury and decided I really had to try it out just to see if he could save me typing.
As you can see it is working very well. There are just a couple of edits need to be made every paragraph, that's not too bad. So now I should be able to put regular updates on my blog using the software.
So what is new? Well it is starting to get hotter here and I need to put the air conditioner on now at night. Temperatures are around 35°. But he is still cool enough to go out on the weekends and evenings so I've been going to the beach and doing other activities.
I will leave it for now but I'll be back more frequently with updates.
[not using software] not bad, eh?
As you can see it is working very well. There are just a couple of edits need to be made every paragraph, that's not too bad. So now I should be able to put regular updates on my blog using the software.
So what is new? Well it is starting to get hotter here and I need to put the air conditioner on now at night. Temperatures are around 35°. But he is still cool enough to go out on the weekends and evenings so I've been going to the beach and doing other activities.
I will leave it for now but I'll be back more frequently with updates.
[not using software] not bad, eh?
Monday, March 10, 2008
ups & downs
Guess it has been a while since I updated. I am still alive – honest!
The ups of downs of current life . . .
Down: hands got worse after coming back from vacation, but I have an MRI scheduled and I’m being more disciplined, such as wearing a wrist brace at work even if I’m feeling fine. It has helped and my hands are improving. Plans are to keep the brace on at work for at least 6 months, if only to keep reminding me to minimize unnecessary typing. Have speech recognition software on order as well.
Up: finished my Hep A & B vaccinations
Down: no travel plans until the summer
Up: but when I do go, it looks like great trips ahead. Possibilities are Turkey, Slovakia, Yemen. Maybe Italy or the Riviera? Egypt?
Up: McEwan’s Export ale, I tried it and liked it.
Down: McEwan’s Scotch Ale – gross stuff. Some Scots tried it and realized it was “sweetheart stout”, back in the day they used to give it to women in maternity wards. Don’t know how much of that is true but it certainly was not a good stout by my standards.
Up: pretty active socially: Natural History Group, then drinks at the Rugby Club next evening, followed next night by the Moto GP, followed the next night with comedy night at the Ramada and so on.
Down: Summer is approaching and a lot of activities will cease, gotta enjoy the cooler temperatures while I can.
Later.
The ups of downs of current life . . .
Down: hands got worse after coming back from vacation, but I have an MRI scheduled and I’m being more disciplined, such as wearing a wrist brace at work even if I’m feeling fine. It has helped and my hands are improving. Plans are to keep the brace on at work for at least 6 months, if only to keep reminding me to minimize unnecessary typing. Have speech recognition software on order as well.
Up: finished my Hep A & B vaccinations
Down: no travel plans until the summer
Up: but when I do go, it looks like great trips ahead. Possibilities are Turkey, Slovakia, Yemen. Maybe Italy or the Riviera? Egypt?
Up: McEwan’s Export ale, I tried it and liked it.
Down: McEwan’s Scotch Ale – gross stuff. Some Scots tried it and realized it was “sweetheart stout”, back in the day they used to give it to women in maternity wards. Don’t know how much of that is true but it certainly was not a good stout by my standards.
Up: pretty active socially: Natural History Group, then drinks at the Rugby Club next evening, followed next night by the Moto GP, followed the next night with comedy night at the Ramada and so on.
Down: Summer is approaching and a lot of activities will cease, gotta enjoy the cooler temperatures while I can.
Later.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Qatar Open women's tennis
Last night I went to the Qatar Open women’s tennis tournament. The tournament is now a Tier 1 WTP event, and has a serious prize pool (~$2.5 million) so almost all of the big names in women’s tennis were there.
I love tennis so to be able to watch pros of this level play, and for free, was incredible. (most tickets were free for the early matches, you just had to get there early to get them)
Unfortunately there was a dust storm yesterday so it made for poor conditions, cold (16 degrees), windy and dusty. Winds were so bad that play had to stop occasionally because of trash flying into the court. My friends and I didn’t bring thick enough jackets so we were cold/shivering throughout the evening. Didn’t stop us from leaving though! Where else could you see this line-up all in one evening at one court:
Ana Ivanovic (World #2, runner-up at recent Australian Open), followed by;
Maria Sharapova, followed by;
Venus Williams.
All in one evening. The Sharapova match was the best one, it went to three sets and her opponent really made a great effort in the first two. Great tennis.
I hope to see more before it ends, but as the tournament goes along it’ll be tougher to get the tickets.
I love tennis so to be able to watch pros of this level play, and for free, was incredible. (most tickets were free for the early matches, you just had to get there early to get them)
Unfortunately there was a dust storm yesterday so it made for poor conditions, cold (16 degrees), windy and dusty. Winds were so bad that play had to stop occasionally because of trash flying into the court. My friends and I didn’t bring thick enough jackets so we were cold/shivering throughout the evening. Didn’t stop us from leaving though! Where else could you see this line-up all in one evening at one court:
Ana Ivanovic (World #2, runner-up at recent Australian Open), followed by;
Maria Sharapova, followed by;
Venus Williams.
All in one evening. The Sharapova match was the best one, it went to three sets and her opponent really made a great effort in the first two. Great tennis.
I hope to see more before it ends, but as the tournament goes along it’ll be tougher to get the tickets.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
My tastes in music.
Let’s continue on a lighter note. Though I've had this blog for a year-andf-a-half I’ve never really described my taste in music before. I suppose it’s a little all over the place, some metal, alt-rock, 60’s, world, even a few classical CD’s. So I guess a good way to indicate my favourites would be to go through the collection and list the artists I have a number of CD’s of.
I own more than three CD’s of:
Beatles
Dandy Warhols
Foo Fighters
Muse
Nine Inch Nails
Pink Floyd
System of a Down
Skunk Anansie / Skin
Weezer
And I have two of the following but won’t rule out getting a third in the future (or when available)
Audioslave
Fall Out Boy
Gorillaz
Green Day
Linkin Park
My Chemical Romance
Scissor Sisters
Sloan
Veruca Salt
I also have two of the following but I doubt I’ll be getting a third one, for various reasons:
Black Sabbarh
Coldplay
Eels
Grapes of Wrath (anyone remember them?)
Placebo
Radiohead
Sonic Youth
They Might be Giants
Make of these lists what you will. . .
I own more than three CD’s of:
Beatles
Dandy Warhols
Foo Fighters
Muse
Nine Inch Nails
Pink Floyd
System of a Down
Skunk Anansie / Skin
Weezer
And I have two of the following but won’t rule out getting a third in the future (or when available)
Audioslave
Fall Out Boy
Gorillaz
Green Day
Linkin Park
My Chemical Romance
Scissor Sisters
Sloan
Veruca Salt
I also have two of the following but I doubt I’ll be getting a third one, for various reasons:
Black Sabbarh
Coldplay
Eels
Grapes of Wrath (anyone remember them?)
Placebo
Radiohead
Sonic Youth
They Might be Giants
Make of these lists what you will. . .
Monday, February 04, 2008
Crap - forgot to mention I was on vacation for three weeks!
Oops, looks like I forgot to post about my three week vacation in Canada so I wouldn't be blogging for the rest of January. Sorry about that.
I had a great time visiting a lot of family and friends. I hadn't been to Vancouver in like 4 years so it was surprising how much had changed. It was like entering a Twilight Zone version of Vancouver where things were similar enough to how they were - yet different in a number of ways. More buildings, people moved to other places, or maybe got married, or had kids, or changed jobs and so on.
I do miss Vancouver, it has a scene and laid-back vibe that places like Doha and Dubai cannot ever hope to match. Will I ever end up living there again? Or Canada for that matter? No plans to, but then again I never plan anything far in advance. All of my career and location moves have been fairly spur-of-the-moment, especially the move to Qatar. So who can say if I'll ever live in Canada again. Maybe I'll end up in Europe or something.
I had a great time visiting a lot of family and friends. I hadn't been to Vancouver in like 4 years so it was surprising how much had changed. It was like entering a Twilight Zone version of Vancouver where things were similar enough to how they were - yet different in a number of ways. More buildings, people moved to other places, or maybe got married, or had kids, or changed jobs and so on.
I do miss Vancouver, it has a scene and laid-back vibe that places like Doha and Dubai cannot ever hope to match. Will I ever end up living there again? Or Canada for that matter? No plans to, but then again I never plan anything far in advance. All of my career and location moves have been fairly spur-of-the-moment, especially the move to Qatar. So who can say if I'll ever live in Canada again. Maybe I'll end up in Europe or something.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
So my sister gets engaged . . .
. . .and I have to find out second hand from someone else! My own sister -- whom I valiantly protected from harm all those years we were growing up, whom I supported through those tough years she had during the War, whose political aspirations I helped inspire -- couldn't even tell her own brother directly that she got engaged. *sob*
Sure, she emailed me later but by then I had already heard from others. *sniff*
(Congratulations Karen!)
Sure, she emailed me later but by then I had already heard from others. *sniff*
(Congratulations Karen!)
Women Judges in Qatar
Here's an article about woman judges in Qatar that was in a local newspaper. You have to read it -- talks about how women are too emotional etc to be judges. Very non-PC.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everyone!
Today I went to the Qatar Open tennis tournament. Watched Andy Murray (world #11) take down a Belgian player 6-0 6-2, then I looked at the schedule to see what other games were playing and relaized that one of my favourite players was at the tournament:
Daniel Nestor! The most successful Canadian tennis player of all time!
Coincidentally Nestor's match was a doubles match against Andy Murray, so I watched Murray play twice in one day. Now doubles tennis is a whole different game from singles so my money was on Nestor for sure. And he didn't dissappoint - despite Nestor never being a great singles player (his highest singles rank was #59 waaaaay back in 1999) his team quickly dispatched Murray's team 6-3 6-0.
Nestor has won the Qatar doubles title twice before, hopefully he'll make it a third this year.
Today I went to the Qatar Open tennis tournament. Watched Andy Murray (world #11) take down a Belgian player 6-0 6-2, then I looked at the schedule to see what other games were playing and relaized that one of my favourite players was at the tournament:
Daniel Nestor! The most successful Canadian tennis player of all time!
Coincidentally Nestor's match was a doubles match against Andy Murray, so I watched Murray play twice in one day. Now doubles tennis is a whole different game from singles so my money was on Nestor for sure. And he didn't dissappoint - despite Nestor never being a great singles player (his highest singles rank was #59 waaaaay back in 1999) his team quickly dispatched Murray's team 6-3 6-0.
Nestor has won the Qatar doubles title twice before, hopefully he'll make it a third this year.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Test results were okay
The test results on the nerves in my hand/arms came back as OK. It was a strange test involving running electrical currents through my arms, which made them twitch every time I got a shock. A few of the tests had some upped amperage and my whole body twitched a but from it while my arm jumped almost a foot! Anyway, the prob is not constricted nerves.
The tenderness in my hands has subsided a bit so I'm hopeful that my three week break in Canada will really give them time to heal up fully. I think I'll take my brother's advice and look into some physio exercises while I'm in Canada. My hands are now at the point that proper exercises shouldn't cause them to get worse.
The tenderness in my hands has subsided a bit so I'm hopeful that my three week break in Canada will really give them time to heal up fully. I think I'll take my brother's advice and look into some physio exercises while I'm in Canada. My hands are now at the point that proper exercises shouldn't cause them to get worse.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
why no updates?
Sadly my hands are still not better. So far been to three doctors and now the thought is that it is some kind of problems with the nerves, either their pinched on constricted somewhere. I have a neurological test scheduled for the 27th so hopefully that sheds some light on what's going on. The amount I've been typing has been scaled back heavily and I haven't driven my car in 2 months so I hope doctors get to the bottom of this soon. I'll update after I get the test results.
It's not too painful, just uncomfortable, so don't worry that I'm in agony or anything.
Since updates will be later have a Merry Xmas everyone!
It's not too painful, just uncomfortable, so don't worry that I'm in agony or anything.
Since updates will be later have a Merry Xmas everyone!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
An adopted dog
Thanks to the person who sent me the updated link to the Qatar Animal Welfare Society, my friend and his family stopped by on the weekend and adopted a nice german shepard cross. Your post to this blog found a dog a new home!
As for Beijing, I figured my next posts would be a simple "odds that..." format to give you a slice of life in Beijing.
Odds That In Beijing a girl coming up to you to practice English is really only interested in practising English . . . 50% (2 of 4)
Two girls I met at Tienanmen were genuinely wanting to practice English. One was really good, the other's English was pretty poor. The other girls, which I met on the shopping street and in a high-end mall, we more interested in getting me to "have coffee" at some teahouse somewhere down some alleyway. I declined and was later informed by my friend in Beijing that if you accept such offers there's a hefty bill waiting for you at the teahouse, as well as some muscle to make sure you pay it.
As for Beijing, I figured my next posts would be a simple "odds that..." format to give you a slice of life in Beijing.
Odds That In Beijing a girl coming up to you to practice English is really only interested in practising English . . . 50% (2 of 4)
Two girls I met at Tienanmen were genuinely wanting to practice English. One was really good, the other's English was pretty poor. The other girls, which I met on the shopping street and in a high-end mall, we more interested in getting me to "have coffee" at some teahouse somewhere down some alleyway. I declined and was later informed by my friend in Beijing that if you accept such offers there's a hefty bill waiting for you at the teahouse, as well as some muscle to make sure you pay it.
Friday, November 16, 2007
So, what have I been up to lately?
I haven't mentioned what I've been up to lately. Aside from work, now that the weather is pleasant a bunch of us have been organizing meet-ups on the weekend to various places in Qatar. This week we went to Sealine Beach resort south of Doha to hang out on the beach and go swimming. The week before that it was a Diwali celebration hosted by one of my Indian coworkers, and a couple of weeks ago we went to Souq Waqif, a marketplace designed to look like an old traditional souq. It has a lot of shisha cafes and restaurants so it is popular with locals. On top of that the Natural History group is up and running again so I've been going out on the field trips that they organize.
And a coworker has been organizing viewings of classic movies at his apartment every Friday afternoon. This week it is Double Indemnity. Last week it was Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise), a 3+ hour French romance hailed as the French equivalent of Gone with the Wind. I was surprised that I found it to be a good movie despite the fact I'm not fond of romances.
Other movies I've seen via "classic movie afternoon":
To Have and Have Not
Freaks
Rashamon
The Seven Samurai
Mr. Hulot's Vacation
In other news yet another person in Qatar has mentioned to me that they found my blog on internet searches, which is why I'll reiterate that you are never going to read stories about my workplace on this blog!
What about Beijing? Well I'm off to Bahrain on business for three days so I'll post a bit more about that when I return.
And a coworker has been organizing viewings of classic movies at his apartment every Friday afternoon. This week it is Double Indemnity. Last week it was Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise), a 3+ hour French romance hailed as the French equivalent of Gone with the Wind. I was surprised that I found it to be a good movie despite the fact I'm not fond of romances.
Other movies I've seen via "classic movie afternoon":
To Have and Have Not
Freaks
Rashamon
The Seven Samurai
Mr. Hulot's Vacation
In other news yet another person in Qatar has mentioned to me that they found my blog on internet searches, which is why I'll reiterate that you are never going to read stories about my workplace on this blog!
What about Beijing? Well I'm off to Bahrain on business for three days so I'll post a bit more about that when I return.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Sorry about the delay - updates
Wow, I have been remiss in posting. Sorry about that, with the RSI I've been trying to stay away from computing but 2+ weeks is a bit much.
Beijing: Although I hate commercials one of the things that I like doing in a new country is to watch the commercials on TV. Commercials are like a window into society and do a resonable job in reflecting things that the society cares about or are concerned with. So what did I find in Beijing commercials?
-- lots of ads for skin creams, including ones that 'whiten' skin
-- lots of ads for supplements and vitamins that will make your baby/child more intelligent, stronger etc.
-- lots of Olympic ads
what I didn't see much of:
-- ads for movies, TV shows or other entertainment
-- ads for applicances or cars
-- ads for airlines or travel
My favourite was an Olympics 2008 ad featuring the five official mascots. Now, most Olympic ads in the West are about gearing people up for it and emphasing the excitement of the games. But China is different - in China the ads were about how citizens should behave in preparation for the games! No joke! The ads featured the mascots instructing people to pick up trash, help tourists, form orderly queues and even instructed people to not talk loudly on cell phones in public transit. Bizarre. Obey Citizen!
Currency peg: talk in the media is that despite all the talk from the Central Banks that they will not de-peg or revalue the currency (due to the $US dollar decline) at least one of UAE or Qatar will drop the peg within 6 months. Interesting news, I hope they do that here, it means my money is worth more.
My trip back to Canada in January is booked. Good news is that I will be visiting Vancouver for the first time in about three years -- it'll be nice to see everyone again. Bad news: not visiting Bermuda en route. I couldn't get the flights to work out so I'm going to Vancouver via London rather than the US. Maybe next year Bermuda.
Beijing: Although I hate commercials one of the things that I like doing in a new country is to watch the commercials on TV. Commercials are like a window into society and do a resonable job in reflecting things that the society cares about or are concerned with. So what did I find in Beijing commercials?
-- lots of ads for skin creams, including ones that 'whiten' skin
-- lots of ads for supplements and vitamins that will make your baby/child more intelligent, stronger etc.
-- lots of Olympic ads
what I didn't see much of:
-- ads for movies, TV shows or other entertainment
-- ads for applicances or cars
-- ads for airlines or travel
My favourite was an Olympics 2008 ad featuring the five official mascots. Now, most Olympic ads in the West are about gearing people up for it and emphasing the excitement of the games. But China is different - in China the ads were about how citizens should behave in preparation for the games! No joke! The ads featured the mascots instructing people to pick up trash, help tourists, form orderly queues and even instructed people to not talk loudly on cell phones in public transit. Bizarre. Obey Citizen!
Currency peg: talk in the media is that despite all the talk from the Central Banks that they will not de-peg or revalue the currency (due to the $US dollar decline) at least one of UAE or Qatar will drop the peg within 6 months. Interesting news, I hope they do that here, it means my money is worth more.
My trip back to Canada in January is booked. Good news is that I will be visiting Vancouver for the first time in about three years -- it'll be nice to see everyone again. Bad news: not visiting Bermuda en route. I couldn't get the flights to work out so I'm going to Vancouver via London rather than the US. Maybe next year Bermuda.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
The Return from Beijing.
Okay, I'm back! Had a great time and it'll take a number of posts to explain it all. First, the conference. The conference was known as the “World Congress of Scientific Inquiry and Human Well-being: Improving Science Spirits and Building Harmony Society”. The conference was more academic and serious than a TAM with dozens of professors and researchers giving 15-minute talks on a number of topics. Some of the local talks were . . . different, with titles like “The sci-tech culture leads the construction of a harmonious society” or “A special case reflecting the worship of numbers: the numeric metaphors in Chinese internal dan theories” but some were more down-to-earth and discussed items like the results of science teaching initiatives in rural schools. Western presenters included Peter Atkins, Scott Atran, Daniel Dennett, Murray Gell-Mann, Lawrence Krauss, Edward Kruglyakov, Jean-Claude Pecker, Paul Kurtz, and a number more. Most of the time the various presentations were held simultaneously in two rooms so I could only see about half of them.
The talks were only 15-minutes, which didn’t really give much time. Only two talks that I attended were affected by having to stop so that the Chinese interpreter could translate for the audience, essentially only giving the speaker about 8 minutes! Pecker and Kruglyakov’s talks were affected, and Krauss and Atran, once seeing this, refused to stop their talks for translation, telling the hosts to translate a summary afterward.
For talks in Chinese a translator sat next to us foreigners (at any given time 3-8 of us) and would verbally translate the talk to English as it was given, so Chinese speakers did not have to pause for translation. It generally worked out well but sometimes the translators would not know how to translate if a talk got very technical. All-in-all though having the translators was much appreciated. With only 15-minutes though none of the talks could go into much depth.
What was interesting was that the Chinese talks were heavy on ideology and key buzzwords, similar to most speeches you hear from Comm Party meetings. Lots of mention of “science spirit”, “embracing science popularisation”, and “harmonious society” in almost every talk. It was sort of a cross between a science conference and Communist meeting. I’ve been told by westerners at the conference who live in China that this is fairly typical for speeches in China --and let’s not forget that all of the Chinese speakers were from a government-approved list.
As for the non-presentation part of the conference it was great! With so few foreigners there, I think there were all of about 8 of us there who were not giving presentations, we were invited to all of the events and tours so you got to chat with many of the speakers. Any distance between speakers and attendees didn’t exist: Jean-Claude sat down at our table for lunch one day, Gell-Mann the next, Krauss joined our table for dinner, Dennett went out with us to the TGIF for a drink one afternoon and so on. All of the speakers were very approachable and this was no exception: no attitude, just regular folks looking to meet with other attendees and speakers to chat. Just that instead of 900+ people at TAM (the Vegas conference I went to last January) there were about 30 of us, Westerners that is. Our hosts provided us with lunch every day, two banquets with entertainment (acrobats, magician, ladies playing traditional instruments), front-row seats at a Chinese Opera, and a tour of the Great Wall. I appreciated all of the work that they did for us, they were wonderful hosts.
One amusing thing was that because there were so few foreigners a lot of the local attendees assumed that I was “somebody”. I got asked many times what my talk was going to be about and lots of people were taking my photo during the sessions. Any westerner was a minor celebrity there.
I had a few days after the conference so did the usual sights: Forbidden City, Temple of Heavan, Summer Palace (my favourite), Lama Temple, acrobat show, some shopping for pearls & jade. Another attendee stayed over for a couple of days so we did most of the sights together, everyone else had moved on to a week-long tour to Xian etc. In the evenings I usually met up with a guy I met on the JREF forum who showed me various bars to sample the Beijing nightlife.
I'll post more about the sights & sound of Beijing over the next week or so.
For those of you on the e-album list it is on its way.
The talks were only 15-minutes, which didn’t really give much time. Only two talks that I attended were affected by having to stop so that the Chinese interpreter could translate for the audience, essentially only giving the speaker about 8 minutes! Pecker and Kruglyakov’s talks were affected, and Krauss and Atran, once seeing this, refused to stop their talks for translation, telling the hosts to translate a summary afterward.
For talks in Chinese a translator sat next to us foreigners (at any given time 3-8 of us) and would verbally translate the talk to English as it was given, so Chinese speakers did not have to pause for translation. It generally worked out well but sometimes the translators would not know how to translate if a talk got very technical. All-in-all though having the translators was much appreciated. With only 15-minutes though none of the talks could go into much depth.
What was interesting was that the Chinese talks were heavy on ideology and key buzzwords, similar to most speeches you hear from Comm Party meetings. Lots of mention of “science spirit”, “embracing science popularisation”, and “harmonious society” in almost every talk. It was sort of a cross between a science conference and Communist meeting. I’ve been told by westerners at the conference who live in China that this is fairly typical for speeches in China --and let’s not forget that all of the Chinese speakers were from a government-approved list.
As for the non-presentation part of the conference it was great! With so few foreigners there, I think there were all of about 8 of us there who were not giving presentations, we were invited to all of the events and tours so you got to chat with many of the speakers. Any distance between speakers and attendees didn’t exist: Jean-Claude sat down at our table for lunch one day, Gell-Mann the next, Krauss joined our table for dinner, Dennett went out with us to the TGIF for a drink one afternoon and so on. All of the speakers were very approachable and this was no exception: no attitude, just regular folks looking to meet with other attendees and speakers to chat. Just that instead of 900+ people at TAM (the Vegas conference I went to last January) there were about 30 of us, Westerners that is. Our hosts provided us with lunch every day, two banquets with entertainment (acrobats, magician, ladies playing traditional instruments), front-row seats at a Chinese Opera, and a tour of the Great Wall. I appreciated all of the work that they did for us, they were wonderful hosts.
One amusing thing was that because there were so few foreigners a lot of the local attendees assumed that I was “somebody”. I got asked many times what my talk was going to be about and lots of people were taking my photo during the sessions. Any westerner was a minor celebrity there.
I had a few days after the conference so did the usual sights: Forbidden City, Temple of Heavan, Summer Palace (my favourite), Lama Temple, acrobat show, some shopping for pearls & jade. Another attendee stayed over for a couple of days so we did most of the sights together, everyone else had moved on to a week-long tour to Xian etc. In the evenings I usually met up with a guy I met on the JREF forum who showed me various bars to sample the Beijing nightlife.
I'll post more about the sights & sound of Beijing over the next week or so.
For those of you on the e-album list it is on its way.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
I'm off to China!
Heading to the airport in two hours for my trip to Beijing. Because the Eid holiday starts today this will likely be one of the busiest times at the airport this year - so I'm giving myself 3 1/2 hours to check in and board.
I took some time today to review my Lonely Planet guide to Beijing and they had a bunch of phrases at the back for people to say if they need to get key info across in Mandarin. So I tried it out on a Chinese coworker (Singaporean actually) to make sure that I had the pronounciations correct. It was great doing this because I discovered:
-- the english sayings in the Lonely Planet are not phonetic;
-- Chinese people cannot understand a word that I say in Mandarin; and
-- Saying things from the guidebook is a great way to get Chinese people to laugh hysterically, which should be useful to break the ice at parties.
For example, one of the words Lonely Planet lists as 'bushi'. How would you proounce that reading from the book? Bu-shi is my guess. How is the word really pronounced?
bu-suh
So why the %@$&@# does the guide say bushi ??! This was repeated with most of the words I tried - my colleague had no clue why the book translated them this way, but laughed and laughed at my attempts to say them.
Also, from the limited phrases given in the guidebook it appears Lonely Planet readers are generally concerned with things like:
"use the meter please"
"where does this bus go?"
"where is the nearest gay nightclub?"
but the guide is silent on "where is the toilet?" or words like "left" "right" or "down the street two blocks". Apparantly it is much more vital for Lonely Planet readers to find gay nightlife than a washroom. (I don't even want to think about why - is that even legal in China?)
Anyway looks like I'll stick to English as much as possble. See ya in 10 days!
I took some time today to review my Lonely Planet guide to Beijing and they had a bunch of phrases at the back for people to say if they need to get key info across in Mandarin. So I tried it out on a Chinese coworker (Singaporean actually) to make sure that I had the pronounciations correct. It was great doing this because I discovered:
-- the english sayings in the Lonely Planet are not phonetic;
-- Chinese people cannot understand a word that I say in Mandarin; and
-- Saying things from the guidebook is a great way to get Chinese people to laugh hysterically, which should be useful to break the ice at parties.
For example, one of the words Lonely Planet lists as 'bushi'. How would you proounce that reading from the book? Bu-shi is my guess. How is the word really pronounced?
bu-suh
So why the %@$&@# does the guide say bushi ??! This was repeated with most of the words I tried - my colleague had no clue why the book translated them this way, but laughed and laughed at my attempts to say them.
Also, from the limited phrases given in the guidebook it appears Lonely Planet readers are generally concerned with things like:
"use the meter please"
"where does this bus go?"
"where is the nearest gay nightclub?"
but the guide is silent on "where is the toilet?" or words like "left" "right" or "down the street two blocks". Apparantly it is much more vital for Lonely Planet readers to find gay nightlife than a washroom. (I don't even want to think about why - is that even legal in China?)
Anyway looks like I'll stick to English as much as possble. See ya in 10 days!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)